


Experimented

by WaywardWolf007



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Minor Character Death, Psychological Torture, This one has a happy ending, as promised
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-10
Updated: 2017-07-10
Packaged: 2018-11-30 11:12:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11462397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WaywardWolf007/pseuds/WaywardWolf007
Summary: Casey has been trapped in this hell for years, time has started to blend together and hope has been all but murdered. But is it dead? Is there a possibility, however slight, that she could be rescued?





	Experimented

**Author's Note:**

> Again, cleaning out my folder and transferring my works to here. This was is a pretty old one so might not be the best. Again, criticism is welcome as long as it is helpful. And gentle. Plez be gentlez.

She gripped the wall with her left hand, cracking the drywall so she had a hold. Then she took her right hand and punched the concrete as hard as she could. She heard her knuckles crunch, but it was all but muted by the cracking of the cinder block in front of her.

Her head was next. She whacked her head against the wall, purposefully on the concrete portion. It made her dizzy with pain. Good. All she needed was some relief. Some form of escape from this terrible, horrible nightmare.

Yes. That's all it was. A nightmare. But one she couldn't leave. The unnavigable halls, the endless screaming, the pain of emotional loss. She was breaking. Losing it. She had to wake up. They always wake her up when it gets too bad.

But she never felt the familiar jolt that has come to wake her up. Never violently regained consciousness, coming too as she strained and thrashed against the ropes on the operating table.

No, instead she turned around, and was met with an endless hall yet again. The red walls and carpet fading to black because the only light was above her head. She was curious the first time she went in here, or was forced in. The velvety carpet was soft, and horizontally lined with purple zig-zags. The walls felt more welcoming and less entrapping than they did now when her existence felt as if it ended every time she was zapped into the machine. She was happy at first, thinking of it as a dream-like escape from the beatings they called training.

How wrong she was.

Then her world, whether real or dream, came crashing down in one second.

The light flickered.

She knew what that meant, and she started hitting and punching the three walls around her. Screaming, crying, begging to be woken up. To be pulled out of this horrible dream-reality.

The light flickered again.

She became more frantic, more panicked. She whipped her head around, searching desperately for an explanation that wasn't there. Her quivering legs gave out from the amount of fear coursing through her, causing her back to hit the wall as she slid down to the floor. She shook violently, awaiting the terror to come. Waiting for that, that thing to come out of the dark.

The light flickered a third time.

Then went out.

But not before she saw it. The grotesque beast was limping toward her. In no rush, for it too knew the signs. A dragging noise could be heard, akin to sandpaper being scraped across rough wood. The dragging noise was quickly followed by a thud.

She felt it's hot breath on her face. She lifted her head and her eyes met the decaying sockets of a monster, glowing red with the urge to tear, to kill, to utterly, painfully destroy.

She screamed, and the thing opened its mouth, revealing rows upon rows of sharp teeth, eager to serrate her flesh. The monster reared back, then it bore down on her shaking form, ready to eviscerate her. She ducked her head to her knees and covered it with her arms. 'So this is it,' she thought. And awaited her slow and painful death.

But it never came. After a few seconds, she wondered why she wasn't dead yet.

The girl slowly raised her face, and was met with a void. Just black. The walls and carpet were gone, along with the light and the beast. The only thing she could see was herself. Nothing more.

When she stood in confusion, a light appeared under her feet. It was white in the middle, and fading at the edges. Not shining from anywhere, just illuminating the floor. It was only about an arms length in diameter, not revealing anything about her surroundings.

She stood on shaking legs, her body still not recovered from her close brush with death. Once she was stable, she looked around, still seeing nothing but the void. She wondered how she was standing if it was a void, but soon dismissed the thought. So long as she wasn't back in that maze, she was happy.

It was cold. Not the cold of winter. A dead cold. The absence of light, heat, anything. But she did not shiver, though she could feel this iciness seeping into her through the boots on her feet. She looked down and was mildly surprised. She saw herself in a casual combat suit. Knives strapped to the biceps and left thigh, pistols holstered to the hips and right thigh.

The tan cargo pants tucked neatly into the black combat boots gave no clue to her identity. Neither did the tight black t-shirt, or the battle axe strapped to her back. However, her silver watch might.

She unhitched it and slipped it off. A Timex. She must have good taste. She flipped the device over and saw a name. Casey Jones. Then under it, 'Wolf.'

She took a step back and her head snapped up as her memories flooded her mind.

Her pushing her younger brother on a swing. "Hahahaha! Faster, Casey! Higher!" She laughed along. "Silly! It only goes so high!"

Her father teaching her how to shoot. "Focus on your target. Remember, aim small, miss small. Don't aim for the chest, aim for the pin over his heart. Breathe. Squeeze."  
Casey fired. Hit the dummy dead in the heart.

Her family being killed. She walked in to find her mother and brother dead. Her father, beat up and badly bruised, was on his knees as a man stood behind him and held a pistol to his head. He rasped out "Run," before the man shot him. Casey ran, burning the man's name tag into her mind. 'Brock Rumlow.'

Her joining SHIELD. Meeting the team. Falling for Bucky. Just being the mechanic in the garage. Wandering around her floor. Leading a simple life.

Her being captured. Dragged from the rubble of the base she stayed behind to blow up. By none other than Brock Rumlow himself.

Having her memory wiped over and over. Being shocked seemingly endlessly. Then this. The nightmare simulator. It supposedly took several common, though terrifying fears and projected them into her mind. Basically, as the name suggested, trapping her in a nightmare.

All her life, flashing in an instant. If she didn't know better, she'd think she had died. But Casey knew they wouldn't let her. Couldn't let their precious lab rat to fall into the peaceful abyss of death. No, that would be too generous. So they forced her to stay alive.

Just as he last few pieces fell into place, she felt the shock. It burned through her body in a heartbeat, however it seemingly lasted much longer. It pulsed to the end of every nerve, setting it aflame with pain. It felt like she was being unraveled. Nerve by nerve.

But it was welcome. Well, as welcome as that earth-shattering pain can be. It woke her up. Saved her from he nightmare. Finally.

Casey sat bolt upright screaming. Wait, she could sit up? Her mind allowed that one thought to process before she was bolting out the door to the experiment room. She vaguely heard someone communicate over a radio something about an escaped girl, blonde hair, blue eyes, combat outfit, armed- Wait. That was her! And for the first time in three years she heard English, not Russian or German.

She wondered why they classified her as a threat. Then remembered that the doctors made the mistake of giving Casey her belongings to see if they effected to dream-world. They thought she would be too weak to use her weapons when she woke up, she was guarded on the way in, and was asleep the rest of the time. What was there to worry about?

Casey's steps faltered for a split second, and as she turned the corner distractedly, she ran right into a wall and was knocked flat on her butt. Or so it seemed it was a wall. When she looked up, she was met with the ice blue eyes of none other than James Buchanan Barnes.

"Casey?" he whispered, getting down on one knee and resting his left arm on his leg so he could bend over to see her. Casey's eyes got wild and scared. Was she still in the nightmare world? There's no way she was rescued... was there?

"Bucky," the blonde breathed as Bucky's free hand came up to cup her left cheek. The man in front of her gave a soft smile as he brushed away a stray tear of happiness that had weaseled its way out of her eye.

The girl returned his smile with a full blown grin and launched up on her knees, her arms locking around Bucky with such force that she almost knocked him over. "Bucky," she sobbed into his shoulder. "You came back. You came back for me."

Bucky simply wrapped one arm around her waist and cradled the back of her head to his shoulder with his metal arm as he soothingly murmured into her hair. "Hey, hey doll. It's okay, I'm here now. I've got ya. I'll never let anything hurt ya. It's alright.

Casey just continued to cry her eyes out on Bucky's shoulder. She didn't even notice when the other Avengers rounded the corner she had her back to, or Bucky nodding his head to signal that they found her. Eventually she passed out from the shock and relief of finally being found.

After she lost consciousness Bucky swooped her up and carried her bridal-style to the Quinjet. He smiled softly down at Casey's sleeping form, noting how she looked so innocent and vulnerable when she slept. Then and there he promised he would keep the girl safe from everything in the world, and never ever let anything harm her again.

Bucky sat in his designated seat on the jet and settled Casey so her legs swung over his and dangled off to his right, situating her in his lap with her forehead cradled in his left shoulder/neck junction and his arms wrapped protectively around her waist. His head remained up and his eyes alert for any danger, still in "mission mode."

The rest of he team smiled at the pair, not only happy to have their engineer back, but elated to have one of their best friends and teammates returned.

Six months later

It had been six months since Casey was broken out of the HYDRA base and she had cheerfully gone back to her job as a mechanic. The only thing different was that Bucky was hanging around more than usual. Now, he had been around more often than the others even before the incident, but now it was rare to see him anywhere other than hanging out with Casey in the garage.

Casey was beginning to notice it, but she just brushed it off. There was no way a guy like Bucky Barnes would return her feelings. Absolutely not. Not that she had any feelings in the first place! Nope! Definitely not!

Yeah, she couldn't pull that off. She was head over heels in love with the guy. And because he was around so much, it was getting harder and harder to keep her mouth shut.

The inevitable finally happened when Bucky walked through the elevator doors and into the garage where Casey was again working on Steve's motorcycle. "Hiya, doll," he greeted with a smirk, attempting to mask he pain he was in.

Casey's head whipped around when she heard his voice. Her face broke into a grin as she hopped off the bike and replied "Hey Bucky! I thought you were on a mission for the next three days!" as she walked over and stood in front of him, using her grease towl to wipe the worst of the smudges from her hands.

He shrugged, then winced at the pain it caused. "We finished early, and got to come back," he answered with another smirk. "Why, ya miss me?"

"Only a little, Barnes," she said with a laugh. Then her face turned serious when she examined him. "What's wrong?" she asked, noticing his obvious pain, limp, and unmoving left arm.

"Well, that's what I came to see ya about," he started, scratching the back of his head nervously. "I kinda short circuited my arm."

"You what?!" Casey exclaimed. "What the hell! Take your shirt off right now! Are you hurt anywhere else?" she asked in a panic.

"Well, uh..." he stuttered, pulling off his shirt to reveal an entire torso covered in bandages. "A bit?" he said tentatively, knowing Casey would be extremely mad just about the arm. This would send her ballistic.

And he was right. "JAMES BUCHANAN BARNES! That is not 'a bit'! Now you sit in this chair and stay there!" she yelled in a scolding manner before gently but firmly shoving him into a nearby swivel chair and storming off, muttering about how he was reckless and got hurt too much.

Bucky smirked despite the pain. It was cute that she cared so much. When Casey returned, she merely grunted at his expression before explaining that she was going to change the bandages.

She did her job thoroughly, but quickly, using all her willpower not to stare at his chiseled abs and sculpted pecs. When she finished, a light blush dusted her cheeks as she stood to put away the medical supplies and get her tools to fix his arm.

This time she had Bucky sit on the desk with his legs hanging off while she sat criss-cross to his left, holding his arm and recalibrating it. Bucky admired the way her tongue would poke out every so often when she came across something difficult, and her eyebrows would scrunch in concentration.

She reattached the plating with a proud smile and said "That should do it! Try it out." Bucky lifted his arm, and found it to be good as new. He smirked and came up with an idea. "Does it need more testing?"

Casey narrowed her eyes playfully, not knowing where he was gong with this. "Yes, it would be best if I can assess its functionality now rather than later."

Bucky grinned. "How about this?" he asked and cupped Casey's cheek and brought her in for a tender yet passionate kiss. The blonde melted right into it, though she was surprised. She wound her hands into Bucky's hair and deepened the kiss.

When the pair broke for oxygen, Casey smiled breathlessly and said "I think it's working fine."

Bucky chuckled and replied with a whisper in her ear "I could test it some more in my room, if you like."

Casey blushed bright red but nodded and whispered right back "Let's see if you can handle me, Sergeant."

This made Bucky smirk and sweep her up bridal style and carry her to his room. She giggled all the way. Once they stopped outside his door, she pulled him down for another kiss. As soon as they again parted, Bucky whispered "I love you."

Casey smiled and murmured "I love you, too." This made Bucky's face nearly split in half with the size of his grin as he opened the door and carried Casey to the bedroom.


End file.
